Dream
by Lea Cat
Summary: When you can't tell what's real and what's not, how can you tell who's your enemy? Simple: you can't.
1. Prolouge

**Hello, peeps, new story here. This is NOT MINE. My friend, Death's Scythe as you will know her, is not allowed to have a fanfic account and requested that I put this up. It's really good, I love the plot line. And you will never know what it is! Ha! I'll be the first author note; Death's Scythe will have the rest. Please be nice, this is her first time writing something other than an essay.

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**Um…Hi, I'm Death's Scythe. I don't have an account, but my friend Lea was kind enough to put this here. So, um, I really like FMA. I really love it. So…uh…I don't own FullMetal Alchemist…that's all…

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**Dream  
****By Death's Scythe  
****4/19/06

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It was cold. And he hurt for some reason. Why?

He couldn't even remember what he was doing before he appeared here. Where _was _here, anyway? It was dark all around him.

"Ed?"

…

"Edward?"

"Winry! Where is he? Where's Nii-san!"

…Al? What was Al doing here? He had been across the gate, without any means to get back. Was he…home? As much as he'd like to believe it, he knew it was unlikely. He must have been dreaming.

"Nii-san!"

Well, if he was dreaming, it was very convincing. He could feel Al tugging on his sleeve, begging him to wake up. And it smelled of coffee, with an underlying scent of…oil…

Where was he?

"Nii-san!"

"Alphonse! Let him sleep, he's probably been through a lot. Don't worry, he'll wake up."

Winry…he couldn't agree more with what she said. But…Al…

Glazed golden eyes flickered open, and slowly began to adjust to the light. Letting his eyes wander the room, he landed upon a dirty blond boy with grey eyes. "Al?"

"Nii-san!" Alphonse jumped on him, happily exclaiming 'Nii-san' over and over.

"Ah…air…"

"Al, let him go, he's turning blue!" A true blond girl with bright blue eyes yelled.

"Ah! Sorry, Nii-san. I'm just really happy to see you." Al muttered, turning pink.

"Don't worry about it." He mumbled. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Yeah…go back to sleep, you look exhausted." Winry commented.

Sighing, Edward Elric, FullMetal Alchemist, allowed his eyes to shut, and his mind to drift to darkness.

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**So…Lea says that I'm supposed to ask for reviews…but you don't have to unless you like it! Or have good suggestions…**

**I understand that this is short, but its just the prolouge...**

**Death's right hand and partner,**

**Scythe**


	2. Wake

**Hi, peeps. Honestly, I was shocked when Death's Scythe just handed me a floppy. Just...how does she write that fast? Well, this chapter kinda shocked me, I think it will shock you too…Oh! Random fact! It's my little brother's birthday!

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**Um…Hi? Lea brought up a good point earlier while we were talking. This story takes place four years after the anime ends. I did see CoS, but I decided that I didn't want to write a fic that would take place after it. Umm…well, the plot expands here…

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**Dream**

**By Death's Scythe**

**5/21/06

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"_No, no, this is all wrong!"_

_A crumpled wad of paper hit the wall and fell to join its comrades on the hard, wooden floor._

"_It has to be something else…"_

"_Edward, its been four years, you should slow the pace down before you wear yourself out."_

"_I won't stop until I get back."_

"_It won't do any good to hurt yourself in the process. Take more care of your body."_

_A growl. "Don't tell me what to do, old man."_

_A sigh, as Hoenheim admits defeat to Edward's stubbornness. "…Just don't kill yourself…"_

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Edward was abruptly startled awake by a door slamming. Rubbing his head with his hand, he stared at the ceiling as he remembered his dream…no, memory. He stared at his hand. "Was that really only three days ago?"

"Nii-san? Are you awake?" Al asked as he opened the door a crack and stuck his head in.

"Al? What is it?" Ed asked in return, lifting his head slightly.

"Can you get up? Winry wants you to join us for breakfast…" Al said hesitantly.

"Sure." Ed swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. The world began spinning, and as the dizziness faded, he became aware of Al's voice calling him.

"Nii-san! Take it easy, don't overtax yourself! Lie down, I'll bring you breakfast." Al told him, worried.

"I'm fine, Al!" Ed insisted. "I can go to breakfast without fainting!"

"No! You nearly fell over! You are not fine!" Al argued.

"Stop arguing!" Winry abruptly yelled, slamming the bedroom door. Ed and Al jumped, startled. "Al, Ed is standing up, he's fine! Ed, you overtax yourself, and you'll wish you'd have stayed in bed. **Understood?**" Winry glared at both the boys.

"Yes ma'am!" They chorused, snapping into a military salute.

Winry nodded in satisfaction and said, "Hurry up, then! Breakfast is getting cold."

The moment she disappeared, Ed stared at his right hand. "Since when have I saluted…?"

"Winry can be scary." Al agreed with Ed's unsaid statement. "Now, let's go. No running and no walking too quickly."

"You worry too much." Ed grumbled.

"One of us has to worry. You're too reckless." Al joked. "After all-"

"_-we need you in one piece."_

Ed froze. "Nii-san? What's wrong?" Al asked worriedly from farther down the hallway.

Ed shook himself out of the stupor. "I-it's nothing, Al." Nothing was wrong, he was just hearing voices.

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"Drink it."

"No!"

"**Drink it.**"

"I am not drinking some opaque, white foamy crap, madwoman!"

"You did **not** just call me a madwoman. Now, you **are** drinking this milk, even if I have to pour it down your throat!"

Al sighed, as Ed and Winry glared at each other across the kitchen table…with a glass of milk sitting between them.

Luck seemed to like Ed this morning, as the phone rang right before Winry tossed her wrench. Still glaring at Ed, she got up and stomped to the next room to answer the phone.

Ed took advantage of this and dumped the milk in the sink. Then, he made a stealthy disappearance.

"Now, Ed-" Winry stomped back into the room, glaring until she realized Ed was gone. "Huh? Where'd he go? Al! Where's Ed!" She demanded, turning her glare on Al.

"Knowing Nii-san, he most likely went back to sleep." Al replied, flinching a little when Winry began tapping her wrench.

"…I guess he managed to weasel himself out of this once. I'll let him sleep, he's probably still exhausted." Winry caved, showing her soft side.

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"_So, Edward. Do you like being home again?" The voice Ed had heard before sneered. He couldn't seem to block it out: it echoed all around him in the pitch darkness. "Well, I can guarantee you won't be there for long…"_

_A knife lodged itself in his left shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain. The knife was pulled back out by an unknown shadow._

"_I guess I'll allow you to enjoy your 'victory', however short it may be."_

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Ed woke up to intense pain in his left shoulder. Reaching over to rub it, thinking it was a cramp, he winced when he touched it. Bringing his hand back, he stared as moonlight reflected off the dark liquid that dripped off it.

The blood made an ominous sound as it hit the sheet.

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**Ah…Lea totally wanted to kill me for that…um…Al doesn't have the memory of their journey, but Ed doesn't know that yet…**

**Um…I'm shy…Eep! I'm sorry!**

**Death's Scythe**


	3. Drift

**Okay, peeps. (I seem to be using that word a lot.) Ah…not much to say…but Death's Scythe is keeping me in the dark about this story! And one of my friends brought up the question of who Death's Scythe is…well…if you know me well enough, you'd know, but if you don't…well, your loss.

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**Hi? Ah…I hope no one was ready to kill me over the last cliffhanger. (Was that a cliffhanger?) I had to ask Lea what she meant when she yelled at me for a 'cliffy'. I'm enjoying this so far. Who knew writing stories could be so…refreshing? Eep! You all probably just want the story; you don't wanna hear a new authoress blab! Ah, I don't own FMA.

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**Dream**

**By Death's Scythe**

**5/22/06

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"_How do you always manage to get yourself wounded?" Winry asked him as she bandaged his bleeding side._

"_I don't know." Edward responded, leaning back and staring at the other world's Winry. "I didn't even do anything wrong! The guy was gonna shoot a little girl-"_

"_I never said you did anything wrong." Winry cut him off. "I was just thinking…I haven't even known you very long, and I already know that you attract trouble. Take better care of yourself."_

"_I'll try."_

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Edward stared in shock as his left shoulder continued to bleed. He only snapped out of it when he realized that he needed to get it bandaged.

Pulling himself out of the bed, he made his way to the bathroom. Flicking on the lights, he was once again shocked to see himself smeared with blood in the mirror. Forcing himself out of his stupor, he went through the mechanical motions of cleaning the cut. Once he had tightly bandaged it, and cleaned the blood off the floor and blanket, he found the sun rising.

Hurrying back to the room, he slipped into his normal attire of black with his trademark red coat.

Feeling more secure, now that his wound was covered, he went down to the kitchen where he could hear Winry moving around. "Ed! Feeling better?"

"Yeah." Ed replied after a pause. He was debating whether or not to tell her about his wound. His pride won over; there was no need to make Al or Winry worry any more than necessary. "So, what's for breakfast?"

"Pancakes!" Winry said, a little too cheerfully in Ed's opinion. His suspicions were proven correct, when she added, in a more sinister tone, "And milk."

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Al woke up to screaming.

That wasn't a big deal; Ed and Winry were probably going at it.

What worried him was that it abruptly went silent. And then Winry began calling Ed's name. That was never good.

Forcing himself out of his warm bed, he hurriedly made his way to the kitchen and was shocked by what he found. "Nii-san!"

Ed was lying in a pool of blood that centered around his left shoulder. What was odd was that even though Winry was sitting directly in it, none of the blood seemed to touch her. "Ed! What's wrong? Get up!"

"Winry, can't you see he's bleeding?" Al asked, even as he reached to pull Ed's coat and jacket off. He gasped when he saw that the bandage had bled through. Pulling the blood soaked cloth off, he winced when he saw the stab mark. "Nii-san, where did you get this?"

"Al, what are you talking about?" Winry asked, seemingly unaware that she was sitting in a pool of Ed's blood. "There isn't any mark on his skin."

Al snapped his head towards Winry and snapped, "Call Sensei down here, and tell her it's Ed!"

Winry made no move to argue with Al, instead, running for the phone.

"Nii-san, what did you do this time?"

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"_What would you do without me, Nii-san?" Al asked, as he cocked his armored head at Ed._

"_I dunno, Al." Ed muttered, looking over the city from they're position on a roof top._

"_I guess we need to work on that." A different voice said. Ed whirled around, only to find that where Al had been standing, an indefinable shadow stood. "What's wrong? Surprised to see me?"_

"_What do you want?" Ed growled. "Can't you leave me alone?"_

"_You should know better than to argue with me. Was the last wound not enough?" The shadow asked, mockingly. As if to punctuate the sentence, a stab of pain shot through Ed's shoulder. Ed gasped in pain and clenched his left shoulder._

_He looked up as the shadow walked up to him. Gritting his teeth, he managed to grind out, "What the fucking **hell** do you want with me, bastard? Who the hell are you, anyway?"_

"_Tsk, tsk. Such foul language." The shadow scolded. "I'm just doing my job."_

_And with a flourish, he produced a knife and stabbed it through Ed's right leg. Cursing profoundly, Ed dropped to his knees and cradled his new wound._

"_You should wake up now."_

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Al could only shriek in surprise when Ed's right leg simply began to bleed.

"Al? What's wrong? Izumi said she'd be here by tomorrow." Winry said as she walked into the room.

Ed's eyes fluttered open. "Al?" He groaned. "Why am I on the floor?"

Al glared back down. "Why don't you explain these _first_, Nii-san." Al gestured to Ed's shoulder and leg. Ed looked down at his right leg ruefully.

"Well…I'm officially robbed of my ability to walk…" Ed muttered.

"Nii-san!" Al said sharply. "Explain!"

"Ah…well…its these dreams, see? Whatever happens to me in them happens in real life." Ed motioned to his leg and shoulder with his right hand. "This weird shadow person stabbed me, here and here."

"What are you two talking about?" Winry asked in exasperation. "Ed, you look fine to me!"

Ed's eyes widened and he spun his head towards Al. "She can't see it?"

"Apparently not." Al muttered. "What could we have that Winry doesn't that allows us to see this?"

"I dunno…we've seen and done a lot of things on our journey…" Ed replied.

"Uh…Nii-san? Now might not be a good time to say this…but…I don't remember any of the four years I was in the armor…" Al told Ed hesitantly.

Ed's reaction was expected: "_What!_" Ed yelled furiously. "And you didn't care to tell me before, because…?"

"You'd act like this, dummy." Winry finished.

Ed glared at her. "Stay out of this."

"This is as much my business as it is yours." Winry informed him. "So you and Al had better fess up about what you were talking about."

"I'll go get bandages." Al said, taking advantage of the fact that Ed couldn't go anywhere.

"But why would you need bandages?" Winry asked in confusion, even as Al left the room.

"Ugh…long story short…I've been having these weird dreams where this shadow person simply stabs me, and when I wake up, my body reflects the wounds." Ed explained. "Apparently, Al and I can see the wounds, but you can't."

Winry sat back as she absorbed the new information. "So…you're injured right now…"

"Yup."

"…but I can't see it…"

"Ah, Winry? I thought I just confirmed it…"

And Edward knew he was in trouble when Winry raised rage filled eyes on him. "Why didn't you tell us! Idiot!" She yelled as she brought her wrench to bear.

"Ow! Winry!" Ed grabbed her wrench, forcing her to stop hitting him over the head.

"Winry, it's not good to hit an injured person. But, then again, it _is_ Nii-san…so he should be alright." Al said as he walked through the doorway.

"Hey! Are you trying to say something!" Ed yelled furiously.

Al knelt down and began bandaging Ed's shoulder, holding him down with an iron grip as Ed tried to squirm away. "Honestly…What would you do without me, Nii-san?"

Ed froze. The wording was exactly the same…it was too uncanny for his liking.

"Nii-san? What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, Al."

"_Indeed, nothing's wrong at all."_

Ed raised horror filled eyes to meet the gaze of the person sitting in the corner.

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**I'm beginning to like cliffhangers. Really. Uh…I'm sorry if some of this seems…weird…um…I'm new at this…I hope this is long enough...**

**Death's Scythe**


	4. Fall

**If anyone wants to ask, I take FULL blame for the late chapter. Okay? My fault. I'm the one who lost it. So, don't blame the wonderful Death's Scythe. She is anything BUT a slacker. …It makes me jealous.**

**LANGUAGE WARNING: I normally try to keep the swearing to a minimum, but I felt that it emphasized Death's Scythe's story. So, there is swearing.

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**This is finally going to be up! YES! When Lea sheepishly told me she 'lost it', I nearly went beserk! So, please enjoy the chapter.

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**Dream**

**By Death's Scythe**

**6/1/06

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"_Do you always have to end up in a hospital, FullMetal? Honestly, this is why no one can see you; the more blood you shed, the shorter you get."_

"_Shut up, bastard colonel!" Ed winced as the yelling aggravated his ribs._

"_Take it easy…we don't want you to lose more height." Roy Mustang, Flame Alchemist, said, apparently amused._

"_Who are you calling so small he can't even see the top of other people's shoes!" Ed yelled, uncaring of the damage he was inflicting on his ribs._

"_I didn't say that; now please stop damaging your ribs." Mustang said solemnly, giving Ed an unreadable look._

"_Fine. Now stop looking at me like that!"_

_Mustang only continued to stare at him._

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Their gazes were awfully similar. Ed thought absently, even as his survival instincts screamed for him to run. Both Mustang and that shadow thing had the same neutral gaze. "What the hell do you want now, my automail leg?"

"Nii-san? Who are you talking to?" Al asked as he followed Ed's gaze to the corner. "There's no one there."

So, Al could see the blood, but he couldn't see the shadow person.

"_Of course he can't. I'm tied to you." _The shadow purred into his ear. When had he moved so close? Could he read his thoughts? The shadow just chuckled. _"No, but your face gives it away."_

"Leave me the fucking hell alone, shit head. I don't know who you are, or what you want, but I really don't fucking care." Ed said in a blank tone. Al and Winry gave him strange looks.

"Ed, are you _sure_ you're okay?" Winry asked hesitantly. "You're acting a bit…strange."

"She's right, Nii-san. You should lie down."

"_You should lie down."_

"_I know Alfonse, but I have to get back."_

"_But all you have are doodles of circles! Look at this one!"_

"_Wait, Alfonse, don't touch that--!"_

_A flash of light, and then the gate._

So that's how it happened…Ed thought in a daze.

Seriously, that made 7?...8 times he'd faced the gate. If there was a record of how many times you've seen the Gate of Truth, he would have gotten the world record.

"_Don't think too hard…you'll hurt yourself." _The shadow person grinned mockingly.

Ed ignored the jab, instead, focusing on something else. "You're from the gate, aren't you? You look too much like one of those shadowy things."

A slow, lazy smile. _"Ding, ding. Give the boy a prize."_

"Nii-san…"

"Al, shush. You, what does the fucking gate want this time?"

"_Well, nothing…really. There are millions of, as you say, shadows, all over the world, following people like I'm following you. However," _The shadow added, grinning like the maniac it was, _"people like you are…special…the shadows that follow the people who've seen the gate are stronger. Think of it this way: when you die, your shadow collects your soul."_

"So, why are you damaging your goods?" Ed asked, wiping blood away from his mouth.

"_Because you're different. You can see us. And we don't intend to let you spill our presence to the world."_ It punctuated its sentence with a knife in Ed's side.

Groaning, he curled in on himself, as Al cried, "Nii-san!"

"_So, I'll let you heal…and then I'll take your voice…"_ With that, the shadow faded from view.

"Fuck." Ed ground out between his gritted teeth. Forcing himself off the ground, he began to half limp, half crawl back to his room.

"Nii-san, I need to bandage your side and leg!" Al protested his movements.

"Don't bother, Al." Ed grunted as he pulled himself up the stairs. "No one else can see the blood."

"But _I _can!" Al cried. "And it hurts to see you bleeding everywhere!" Al followed him up the stairs and waited till Ed sat on his bed before he said, "Now let me bandage this…if my guess is correct, Sensei will be able to see it too."

Ed sighed. Al did have a good point. "Fine, but make it snappy."

Al smiled and set to work.

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Ed stared at his side. The shadow thing had said it would take his voice next, after his wounds healed. So, if he simply kept his wound from healing…

"_Don't even think about it."_

"Wah! Where did you come from!" Ed jumped in surprise.

"_Why, Edward…I'm always with you." _The shadow peered around at Ed's side. _"That's some pretty good bandaging. Maybe we should make your brother one of us."_

"You're not turning Al into one of you freaky shadow things." Ed said flatly. Then he added, "Don't even think about it."

"_Aw. You wound me. Don't you mean one of us freaky shadow things?"_

"One of us?" Ed asked as his breathing stopped. "You aren't telling me--"

"_You're half in the shadow world already…I'd like to see you try and get out."_

Ed could have sworn he died right then and there. Everything seemed to go silent and a strange numbness spread through him. "No…"

"_Yes…"_ The shadow reached for his throat. _"Your teacher is here, and I don't want you talking to her. I changed my mind. I'm confiscating your voice now."_

Ed screamed, just before he lost his voice.

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Izumi felt her heart pounding in her chest. She came to the Rockbell residence because Winry had requested for her to come. She had imagined something horrible happening to her apprentice, but Izumi knew it took a lot to make Ed scream.

Running up to where she heard the scream, she burst through the door.

Ed was lying limp on the bed, holding his throat as if he couldn't speak.

"Edward." He looked at her, but made no attempt to greet her. "Why did you scream?"

He moved his lips, but it took her a moment to realize that the reason he was holding his throat was because he really couldn't speak.

"Brother! What's wrong!" Al ran up, realizing a little too late that Izumi was there. He toppled into her, and it was Izumi's fast reflexes that allowed her to grab Al and pull him out of the way when Winry bowled through.

"Ed? Why did you scream?" Winry asked, before she noticed Izumi standing by the door.

Answering her unspoken question, Izumi shrugged and said, "I heard a scream."

Turning back to Ed, she said, "What's wrong now?"

Ed moved his lips once again, but the only person who seemed to catch what he was saying was Izumi.

"He says the Gate took his voice. But what did you get in return?" Izumi asked.

"He came through the Gate. Maybe it's taking payment now." Al suggested.

Ed growled at them, or tried to. All that came out was a wisp of breath. This was so frustrating!

The damn gate took his voice, so how was he supposed to fucking tell the rest of them what happened? **Damn it all to hell!**

Ed clapped his hands together and grabbed the nearby desk. Transmuting a small piece of it, he motioned to Winry to fetch him a pen. Once she brought him a fountain pen, he began to furiously scribble on the parchment. 'The goddamn Gate took my goddamn voice, so I think I need to find the goddamn Philosopher's Stone again!'

Thrusting the parchment into Winry's hands, he waited for her to read it out loud. She read it word for word, even though she didn't approve of so much swearing. "Don't _swear_ so much!" She yelled, hitting him over the head with a wrench.

"Ow, Winry!"

Or, that was what Ed would have said if he could _talk_ in the goddamn _first_ place! Attempting to groan in pain and frustration, he plopped his head in his hands. Suddenly, he straightened and snatched the paper back. 'I would grow a little more if you didn't hit me **this** much!' He made sure to underline the word 'this' several times.

Practically flinging the sheet into Winry's hands, he sat back and proceeded to sulk.

"Aw, don't pout Brother. We'll get your voice back, and then you can yell at Winry." Al patted Ed on the back much too cheerfully.

Great. This is gonna be _so_ much fun. Whoopdee fricking doo. Ed gave a breathy sigh and slumped.

Behind him, the shadow chuckled.

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**I'm sorry if there is too much swearing for your liking, but this is rated T for a reason. I intend to take full advantage of the T rating, unlike my wimpy 'no-swear' friend.**

**Well, uh…I'll have the next chapter up soon, if SOMEONE doesn't 'LOSE IT'.**

**See ya peeps later,**

**Death's Scythe**


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